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At the end of every great weekend is another Monday. At five minutes until the start of my two hour commute, this Monday morning was about to tick-tock me out the door.

We had been blessed with a rare visit with my niece, her husband, and their three young boys. Our property is a kid’s paradise, and they used it all, even down to the forgotten pool toys at the bottom of the bin. I had no idea you could have so much fun with batman goggles.

While the two older boys, Brandon and Conner, were busy devouring the outdoors, Zach, the two year old, stayed inside and kept the adults entertained.

As I savored the last few minutes before I had to leave, Zach looked up at me and decided I looked like someone fun to help with his blocks. This is what amazes me about kids. He had known me for less than twenty-four hours, yet he trusted me enough to build a house in my hands. There was something so precious about that moment.

My heart was heavy as I said goodbye and loaded myself into the car. Being with my nephews reminded of how much I would still like to have children, and I was also thinking about the new challenge that God had recently put in our path –  helping to plant a new church.

I should have know better than to turn on the radio. Music has a power that should not be taken lightly. It has a way of hooking itself around your heart. Meanwhile, the words take advantage of a captive audience. This particular morning, it was the familiar crooning of the Newsboys that reeled me in.

“Stay strong
You are not lost.
Come on and fix your eyes ahead.
There’s a new dawn to light our day.

Stay strong. You and I run
For the prize that lies ahead.
We’ve come too far to lose our way.”

God knew that I felt lost, and that I needed to stop worrying and trust Him to lead us safely into our next assignment. Zach had it figured out. Just look up at someone bigger and start putting your blocks in their hands.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)

I absolutely love where we live. We own an acre of land which is surrounded by several more acres of woods. You can barely see our house from the road when the leaves are on the trees. We have a bubbling brook running through our front yard that was flowing even during the worst part of the drought last year. Our grass was green when our friends’ yards in the next town were brown and prickly. We have a pool, a pond, and two decks. It’s been beautiful with the spring colors on the dogwood, and the little pink azaleas. (This was written a few months ago.) On our drive home we see gorgeous mountain foothills, horses, happy Holstein cows and beautiful sunsets.

But there is this one little thing that might make some people turn up their noses at our lovely little farm – We live in a mobile home. I like to call it a manufactured home because it sounds better, and also because it’s more accurate. There is nothing “mobile” about our home. It is on a permanent foundation and has been here for 20 years.

Many people do not understand the difference between manufactured, mobile, modular and stick built houses. Hang onto your hat because you are about to learn. The difference is simply this – Modular and stick built homes are made according to both national and local codes, and both kinds appreciate in value. Manufactured is just another term for a mobile home, and these only need to follow national codes. Historically, they have had a tendency to depreciate in value.

Stick built homes are built from scratch on site, with sticks (a.k.a. two by fours), thus the name. This is the traditional type of home that most people look for. They tend to always appreciate in value and there is no stigma attached to them like there tends to be with other types.

Modulars do not deserve the bad rap they have gotten. From what I understand, they are made to the exact same quality and standards as a stick built. The only difference is that some of the parts, like the walls or the dormers, are put together in a factory, then transported to the site. They come in kits or models, thus the name “modular”, and because they are factory produced, in part, they are cheaper to build.

Mobile homes (a.k.a. manufactured) are built entirely in the factory, then put together, usually from two or three large pieces, on site. They are also called double-wides, single-wides or triple-wides, depending on how many pieces are used. These are the homes you see coming down the road on semi trucks, taking up both sides of a two lane highway. In the 80’s they started building these “trailors” to higher standards, put them on permanent foundations and started calling them manufactured homes.

The manufactured homes they are building these days are looking better and better. You would be hard pressed to tell the difference between some of the new ones and a regular old stick built. This is encouraging to me. I hope that one day they lose their bad reputation and begin to appreciate in value, as they should, when well cared for.

Before we purchased our manufactured home, I did a lot of research to figure out why they tend to depreciate. This puzzled me, and still does. I found that it boils down to two things. One, they are built with cheaper materials. For example, the sticks that hold the walls up are usually thinner. Two, they are harder to maintain because it is harder to find supplies. If you want to replace the tub in an older manufactured home, you can’t just run down to Lowe’s and pick one out. They don’t carry them in the correct size.

Still, I don’t think these are the real reasons they tend to depreciate. I think it is more of a complex social issue. Mobile homes have for years littered the countryside in “trailor parks”. Though I’ve seen some in Arizona which are amazingly lovely, these tend to be places that are not well kept, and this has led many to believe that all mobile homes are junky.

That they are harder to maintain is somewhat true, because it is harder to find parts that fit. But when you do find the parts, you can keep your home in good shape, which of course helps tremendously to keep the value up. We are fortunate to have a mobile home supply store nearby, so we can buy all the tubs and doors we need - made especially to fit our little hobbit hole home with it’s low ceilings and miniature bathing units.

People also tend to believe that mobile homes are tornado magnets and will crumble at the first puff of wind. I’m sorry, but if a tornado were flying overhead, I would not feel safe in any kind of home. On the contrary, these babies are designed to survive while trucking down the highway at 65 miles per hour. I read somewhere that there was a hurricane that hit a section of a town and while some of the stick built homes were flattened, the manufactured ones were still standing.

“Those who live in manufactured homes built and installed since 1994 are as well protected as their neighbors who live in site built homes constructed according to the Florida Building Code. They should be afforded comparable insurance coverage at comparably calculated premiums. Many older site built and manufactured homes can be strengthened in order to be safer and insurable.” http://www.myfloridainsurancereform.com/docs/relatedResources/Manufactured%20homes%20hurricane%20performance.pdf

 “In 1994, HUD amended the Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards to provide for greater protection for mobile/manufactured homes from wind damage. During the severe hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, no mobile/manufactured home that was built after these new standards went into effect sustained any significant structural damage from the storms.” http://www.flhsmv.gov/mobilehome/MHConstructionandSafetyStandards.pdf

All this to say that even if you still think mobile homes are cheap, they can’t be that bad since that’s what God has chosen to live in. His temple is not built with wood or bricks or human hands. He has chosen instead to live in us, frail and weak as we are.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19)

I take comfort in this. As my wise friend Kay once said, “God did not put us on this earth to be home owners.” My goals are set much higher than brick and wood.

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.” (2 Cor 5:1 -2)

John and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary in June. Every year he gets me the traditional gift. For example, the first year is paper, so he created a newsletter for our family with stories and pictures. Last year was pottery, so he took me to a place where you can create your own. I made a plate and he made a mug.

This year was willow. He usually doesn’t tell me, and I’m not allowed to ask or look it up. But he was stumped. He couldn’t think of anything, so he asked if it would be ok if we went to visit the largest willow tree in North Carolina. Yep. I’m a cheap date. That sounded fun. It was in the mountains, so I got to combine this with traipsing around looking at antique shops to see if I could find an appropriate gift for myself. I thought about getting a Blue Willow plate or one of those Willow figurines, but after looking at them I realized I already have enough decorations in my house. Pictures of us next to a huge willow tree sounded perfect.

The location was unimpressive for such a grand tree. It was next to a small school which I’m sure is a very nice school, but it was not much to look at – a bunch of gray single-wide trailers. Still, we got some nice pictures and created a memory. And the dogs got to come.

My sister Joyce has been talking about geocaching for awhile. I didn’t get all the hype, but this summer she took me with her. Our brother Harley went too. We were in Indiana for a reunion and she came prepared with her little yellow geocaching GPS and print outs of several “hunts.” I like how it gives you an excuse to go wandering around in the woods, off the trail. And you get to pick up trash!

In case you are not familiar with geocaching and are too lazy to google it – Geocaching is a fairly new sport where you use a GPS to find small containers that others have hidden in the woods and filled with little trinkets. Once you find the containers, you sign in, date it and if you want you can take a trinket and leave something for the next person. You will find things like key chains, buttons and magnets. It is also customary to bring a trash bag and gloves so you can pick up any trash that you find.

We had fun and got a little exercise and fresh air. It sure beats sitting around watching re-runs of the Brady Bunch.

I decided today that I’m on the yo-yo diet - you know, the one that is supposed to be really unhealthy, where you are constantly losing and gaining weight. It’s not a wise choice, but it seems to be the choice I have made.

I’m not fat, but I’m also not the size I want to be, and for some reason can’t stop being obsessed about it. About a year ago, I lost 20 pounds, immediately gained back 5 and kept the 15 off for a year. Recently I have gained back another 8 and am finally getting serious about getting that off. 135 is the weight I maintained for a year, and I’m pretty comfortable there. I can still eat quite a bit of food, and still be thin enough.

I think I like the challenge of losing weight, which is part of the reason I keep gaining it back, to give myself something to do. I don’t know. Maybe I just like food.

Ok, I LOVE food. What’s not to like? It makes me happy.

My latest strategy is the Presidential Fitness Challenge at presidentschallenge.org. It gives a way to track your progress and you get stars and awards for reaching goals. Did someone say stars? I’m in! If you exercise for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week for 6 weeks, you get the “Active Lifestyle Award” and can buy a T-shirt, or a little badge to celebrate. I’ve gotten away from a regular schedule, so I’m hoping this will help. I’m also looking for a 5K race to help me get in training mode. It looks like there’s one in Hickory in November called the Turkey Trot.